Impossible is Nothing
by mugglezara
Summary: Watch as stupidly smart and wild Gryffindor Hermione Granger is stollen away from her world by one impossibly stubborn and cold Slytherin Draco Malfoy. Read and Review! You gotta love the pairing...
1. Chapter 1

Fanfic

**A/N: Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling. I merely try to make the impossible coupling of Hermione and Draco work out.**

Hermione ran down the hallways, repeating "_Evanesco_" over and over again as she tidied her house of the litter degrading the floors. She was finally about to turn seventeen this year. Finally! So she'd thrown a huge party consisting mostly of muggle friends that lived around her neighborhood, and her best mates Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley. Her parents had been out-of-town on a business opportunity in London so she'd had the house to herself and her friends. Little did Mr. and Mrs. Granger know that Hermione had placed an enormous order of alcohol on her dad's credit card…_No matter_, she thought happily in her drunken daze._ Nobody's going to spoil my fun tonight. Daddy will understand anyhow, I think. Will mom though?_

Her mind stopped working as her headache reached a high point and she was forced to clutch the ice pack she was carrying closer to her skin. The Advil hadn't worked. Well the Advils, more like. Anyway, she'd had fun, no questions asked.

It was about 7 a.m. and she knew her parents had promised to be home by 5 p.m. later on so she hurried to clean everything up before heading to The Burrow to celebrate once again. Ron and she had finally gotten together during her party earlier, and though she was happy, she really wanted more to happen. She had felt dizzy with passion when he had _finally_ worked up the nerve to kiss her…That was a good sign...

The bushy-haired teenager finally stopped pacing when she stepped into a pool of puke. "ARGH!"

"Hermione?" a small voice crept from down the hallway. Ron. _He stayed overnight? Oh! _And Hermione realized just _why_ he'd stayed. A smirk spread across her face as she remembered him collapsing from having exhaustion and drunkenness.

"Ron! You sleep alright?"

"Mmhm….." he leaned in for a kiss and she eagerly responded, sucking at his bottom lip, bringing him out of his sleepiness. He quickly grabbed her hips and pushed her against the wall, emphasizing the pain in her head. _Who cares?_ She thought sighing. _Who gives a __fuck__?_ But just as Ron let out an involuntary moan, Harry walked in, quickly shielding his eyes from the spectacle before him.

"Could you guys get a room?" he asked grumpily. "I really don't want to have to deal with you two sucking face for the rest of the day…" he trailed off looking everywhere but at the two lovers.

"Harry!" Hermione whined grabbing his arm and kissing him on the cheek. "Don't spoil the fun! I'm about to turn seventeen and I want to have as much fun as possible this year…that includes right now."

Ron, who had glared at Harry for Hermione's kiss, possessively snaked an arm around her waist and clicked his tongue impatiently. "Lets get this mess cleaned up so we can bring this upstairs," and he wriggled his eyebrows, suggesting more than what had happened before Harry had walked in. Hermione sighed.

"Does it have to wait that long? Harry knows how to clean,-don't you Harry?" she asked him pointedly begging for some alone time with Ron. Harry gave in, smiling sheepishly and trying to block out images or her and Ron upstairs getting busy.

"Thanks Harry!" she cried happily, lunging towards him for another kiss but Ron pulled her back towards him and hoisting her over his shoulder prisoner-style, walking effortlessly from the room, down the hallway and up the stairs to her parents' bedroom.

Harry heard the door slam before pulling his wand out and continuing to "_Scourgify_" the party's mess.

Back upstairs Hermione remembered she had stepped in the pile of sick, and ran for the shower, completely forgetting about Ron and the sudden pull she'd been feeling around her navel. Ron walked after her into the bathroom excited at the prospects of sex in a shower. I mean, they _hadn't _done it but he was sure it was on Hermione's mind for this morning they were to be spending together. Before she realized Ron was watching her, she pulled her shirt off, then her jeans, tugging as they passed over her curves. She would have kept going except she heard Ron gasp and saw him starting to tug at his own clothes.

"Ron, what on Earth do you think you're doing?" she demanded, hands on her close-to-naked hips.

He gaped at her body, completely blocking out any other thought, and obviously not paying attention to a word coming out of her mouth. She walked up to him and smacked him out of it, while running her hands down his bare chest admiring the soccer work. He had finally quit Quidditch and turned to muggle sports. _Much better_, was Hermione's opinion.

His hands traveled over her free skin, ravishing her neck with kisses, moaning her name softly as he slid lower and lower; to her belly button; he flipped her around, caressing her shoulders with lips, softly biting into her shoulders all the hearing Hermione's light sighs and husky moans.

The heat overtook Hermione as she felt the dizziness arising in her head, the weakness in her knees, the fumes of the bathtub reaching her nostrils. She let Ron carry her to the side of the tub to wash her feet. She let her head rest against the tiled wall and sighed herself to sleep. When Ron was finished, he looked up to see her closed eyes and even breathing, breaking into a smile and carrying her back to her bedroom for a quick nap before getting to the Burrow.


	2. Chapter 2

Hermione awoke a few hours later, Ron's arm around her waist, both of them half-naked in her parents' bed

Hermione awoke a few hours later, Ron's arm around her waist, both of them half-naked in her parents' bed. At first, she thought Ron had finally got the best of her and they had done it, but, jumping off the bed, she realized she wasn't naked and smiled, remembering his kindness in the bathroom. Then she realized what time it must be and ran to her bedroom quickly taking a shower in her personal bathroom and getting dressed. When she was done, the wild girl added rouge and eyeliner, tied her hair in a high ponytail and ran out of the room; ready to wake Ron and inspect Harry's cleaning skills.

"Harry! Ron!" she gasped after having run all over the house a couple times, inspecting as she went along, and satisfied with the cleaning. She walked to the master bedroom one last time before she was going to head directly to the Burrow in hopes of seeing them there when she saw a note on the bedside's right table:

_Hermione,_

_We're going to head on without you in case the party needs any extra help for preparations and such. Don't be late, birthday girl!_

_Harry (and Ron)_

_P.S.: Ron says you're beautiful._

Hermione smiled, folding the letter and putting it in her handbag. She turned to quickly make the bed and disapparated on the spot, having temporarily removed the anti-apparition wards.

When she arrived at the Burrow seconds later, she knew something wasn't quite right. No gnome wandered the gardens, no chicken pecked at seeds in the yard, no one answered the front door…All was still.

"Well _that's_ unusual" she breathed quietly inspecting the entrance before jumping back in fright as the door banged open and fireworks shot out of the windows, exploding in the sky above her. She gasped as every living member of the Weasley family, Harry, Dean and Lavender, Parvati, Seamus, Padma, Luna, Neville…Basically all of the D.A./members of the Order of the Phoenix. They kept filing out and she briefly wondered how they had all fit in the small house until one _Draco Malfoy_ walked out holding hands with Ginny.

The Weaselette had started dating the blonde earlier over the summer as the war was finally over and his name had been cleared. Voldemort was finally gone and all criminals were given their punishments. In Hermione's opinion, this particular ex-Death Eater should have been sentenced to a life-long stay in Azkaban but, unfortunately, she was not in the power to make that decision. She _had_ made it clear that she disapproved completely of him. However, for Ginny's sake, she had kept quiet, ready to tell him off at any moment. No way was he going to start another war or battle or whatever it was he was capable of doing that she knew he would do if the opportunity arose.

She glared at him, the only acknowledgment he received from her. She turned instead to Ginny, hugging her tightly and thanking her for having her parents arrange the party.

She continued on to hug everyone in turn, thanking them all for coming and placing present after present she received under her arm, the load becoming increasingly harder to maintain balanced.

"Need help?" a horribly familiar voice asked as the owner brought yet another present under her nose.

"No." she said firmly.

"Listen Granger, there's a table over there. What say you to putting them all down?" he asked matter-of-factly, as though he hadn't been the one to torment her during her six first years at Hogwarts.

"I don't know what you mean by all this" she stated finally, making eye-contact for the first time, her brown eyes searching into his grey ones. A frown crossed his face before being concealed behind that almighty composure of his. "What are you doing here? Why are you with my best friend, a Gryffindor no less? How dare you show your face here? Why did you bring me a _present _for, for God's sake?"

His composure never dropped; his voice showed no hint of anger or resentment. All he did was stare at her until Ginny walked up, grabbing his arm and kissing his cheek, trying to pull him away from Hermione, obviously sensing trouble. Ron walked in with perfect timing, grabbing the gift from Malfoy, a few from under Hermione's arm, and putting them on the table Malfoy had suggested.

Hermione glared at Malfoy until he walked away, her chest heaving from the effort of restraining herself from demanding answers to her questions but quickly realized: _Ginny_. Ginny was the reason he was here, wasn't she? It was _because _Ginny was Hermione's friend that Malfoy had brought her something. Perhaps it was because of Ginny that he turned to the good side. _Maybe he was using her to stay out of trouble too!_

She marched up to Malfoy and grabbed his arm, trying to steer him outside to talk alone. It wasn't until he grabbed her arm tightly that she realized she should _not _have touched him at all. Afraid now, she backed away, trying fruitlessly to break his death-grip on her arm. She could feel the blood leaving her hand but he didn't let go. Finally however, he slackened his grip, and steered her outside himself.

"I won't answer any of your questions, you haughty bitch. Know this though: you are definitely going to pay for that one. Don't think you can talk to a Malfoy with that insolent tongue of yours, grab at a Malfoy, or accuse a Malfoy of anything you want. You know nothing!" he shouted at her before running up into the house.

"ARGH!" she yelled for the second time that day. _Who the __hell__ does he think he is!_

She ran back to the house and continued celebrating with her friends until past midnight once again, though this time without the influence of alcohol. After the adults deemed it fit to leave the teens alone, Ron pulled Hermione into a tight embrace, kissing every inch of her face he could reach. To demonstrate his disgust, Malfoy ran from the room muttering on about "filth!" Ginny decided it was time for ice cream and she ran after him to convince him to help. They both came out carrying cartons of ice cream of mixed flavors, bowls and spoons. The whole birthday party theme had been tropical and exotic; the ice cream followed this, the bright colors in the cartons imitating Hermione's party dress.

"Alright!" Harry called, taking an ice cream spoon out of a side-drawer. "Hermione, sit in this chair here," he said pointing at a chair in front of him.

She sat and daringly allowed him to cover her eyes with a bright blue bandana.

"We have dozens of flavors here and you're going to try them all…" he trailed off and she could hear him opening the first carton. "But first-" he paused and casting _silencio_ on the entrance of the room before then asking someone to turn the music on. "O. K." he went on as music blasted out of the new muggle stereo. "Tell me what this flavor is-"

As soon as the frozen goodness touched her tongue she recognized the strawberry-watermelon twist and smile, "STRAWBERRY-WATERMELON" she roared and received tumultuous applause.

"Correct!" they all shouted at her, begging to pick the next flavor for her to try. After many correct answers, when spoon after spoon had begged entrance into her mouth, the atmosphere lifted, cheerful and carefree once again. It wasn't until she heard a "let me get her to try this one" that she froze in her seat, afraid.

The spoon touched her lips and she silently debated whether to try it, afraid it might be poison. After a moment's hesitation she parted her lips and hoped for the best. The taste was delicious: piña colada. For a moment as she licked her lips and savored the wonders of the sherbet, she pictured _Draco's_ lips against her own, _his_ tongue full of piña colada…but she quickly snapped out of it, pulling the bandana off.

_He did that_, she thought wildly._ I would never…he added something to it! _She glared at him silently and realized he could've slipped anything in it while he was in the kitchen.

"_You!"_ she said fiercely, stabbing him in the chest to further emphasize her anger. "_What did you add to it?"_ she seethed loud enough only for him to hear.

"Nothing, birthday girl. Don't tell me you needed it to think in ways like that..." He trailed off, half-amused, half-mischievous.


	3. Chapter 3

It was the morning of the first of September when Hermione's bruise from that birthday party at the Burrow had finally disappe

It was the morning of the first of September when Hermione's bruise from that birthday party at the Burrow had finally disappeared; it hadn't ended well. After Malfoy's malicious and provocative remark, she had felt free to slap him hard across the face, completely ignoring any social gathering's etiquette.

This had obviously not gone well with Ginny, who had jumped in between the both of them, accidentally knocking Hermione backwards. Wobbling, her arms flailing helplessly trying to balance herself, she fell over the coffee table, bringing Seamus Finnigan with her. Seamus, who had taken this as a free birthday kiss, crushed her lips with his, forgetting to throw his hands out to break his fall. Ron, overcome with jealousy, had shoved his fist into the side of Seamus' face to both her and Malfoy's content. Malfoy smirked and winced feeling the slap Hermione had given him to the left of his jaw, remembering her outburst. He angrily seized her by the front of dress, his fingers sliding through the material and brushing against her breasts.

Ron, completely affronted and disgusted with all the sexual harassments his girlfriend was receiving, shoved Malfoy away from her while grabbing Hermione around the waist. "Ron!" she had yelled hopelessly but Malfoy had been too quick: his shove found Ron's arm, causing him to crush Hermione against the wall.

As all this was happening, maybe guests were bring urged to return home by Harry who was desperate to get everyone out before tearing Malfoy to bits.

As soon as the last guest had departed, Harry had whipped his wand out and separated all of them with an extremely powerful "_PROTEGO!"_

_Yes,_ Hermione thought remembering the moment quite clearly._ Then Malfoy left. Then I did after all of them had cleaned the room. Harry stayed with Ron and Ginny._

She reminisced until her mom came running into her room, reminding her she only had an hour left before the train left from platform 9 ¾. She hadn't thought of Malfoy once since the party, completely distracted by the visits the muggle boys around her neighborhood were paying her. Ron hadn't shown his face once since the party. She had wondered time and time again just _why_ that was but she would see for herself soon enough anyway…In an hour she and Ron would be heading towards the Prefect's compartment.

"Hermione! Breakfast!" her mother called from the kitchen. She could smell her mother cooking her favorite meal of all time: poached eggs over toast. Don't forget the pepper! She ran down the stairs clad in blue jeans, Sambas, and her favorite band T-shirt: the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

After having eaten all of her breakfast, the bushy-haired bookworm ran back upstairs and pulled her trunk off of her bed, sticking her wand in her jeans back pocket. Her father took her to the station on his way to work and helped her heave the trunk on a cart, kissing her good-bye for the last time in a long time. She ran through the brick wall for her last year at Hogwarts as a student and walked down the platform, dizzy and on the verge of tears as she wasn't ever going to experience this as a student ever again. She held onto this one scene: the loud whistles of the train, the steam covering the most distant faces, the screams and laughter echoing from the walls of the rounded ceiling, trunk after trunk passing through the hands of students, being heaved through dozens of compartments…She only stopped staring and breathing hard in an effort to keep her tears from spilling when a hand tapped her shoulder and said "Granger" in a cold and controlled manner. The fear at being discovered in this state overtook her and she tried to run past him, nearly knocking her trunk off the cart.

"Not so fast!" he gasped, grasping her arm and twirling her around to face him. He stopped dead when he saw the wetness in her eyes and slapped her. Hard. "Snap out of it Granger, this year will be the slowest yet for you. Don't get all teary-eyed when I'm around you, understand?"

She could only let her tears fall freely and stare at the ground. "I wasn't wrong about you, you nasty. Little. _Bastard._" She almost stuttered on the words in her range and shock. "Why can't you leave us all alone and die!?"

"I was thinking the exact same thing, _Mudblood._" He tormented, speaking in a low voice so that only she could hear. "I don't care what you think I am, but I'll make your fears come true soon enough…don't worry."

And he stalked off, leaving her crying harder than ever, leaning on her cart, and desperately trying to act normal within the sea of students. Ron's head floated along through the crowd, pushing his way towards her, closely followed by Harry. They ran up to her as soon as they saw her tear-streaked face, blowing past tiny first years and fellow seventh years alike. And their inquisition commenced:

"What's wrong Hermione?"

"Who? Just tell me who and I'll blast his face off."

"Hermione? Are you listening?"

"Are you hurt at all?"

"Hermione! Is your cheek bruised?" Ron pulled her closer to inspect her slightly swollen cheek. "Who? Was it McLaggen? Or Malfoy?"

She froze at the sound of "Malfoy's name and he spat on the ground disgustedly. Both he and Harry ran off in search of him, _probably to square things off with a punch_…she thought dully. On any other day, she might have chased down them and convinced them to stay out of it; to stop them from getting in trouble before school had even _started_, but not today. Today, Malfoy deserved to me massacred and she was going to let her boys take care of him for her if they wanted to.

"Hermione Granger?" a heavily accented voice asked, breaking her from her reverie. "Can I call you Hermione? Yes? Well anyway I was wondering if you could tell me where the prefect's compartment is? I'm in desperate need of assistance…I'm new here, you see…My name is Anthony Ortellado and that boy over there-" he pointed at Neville, "told me to ask you, miss Hermione Granger, for assistance. Am I mistaken?" he asked after a pause, perturbed by her silence.

"No not at all, I'm very pleased to meet you." She reassured him quickly pointing her wand at her face so as to erase any trace of tears. "Yes, Hermione Granger. What year are you in? I can show you the way to the prefect's compartment, I'm on my way there myself actually."

He helped her heave her trunk in Harry and Ginny's compartment, and they ran off without explaining or introducing as they were already late. He followed her all the way to the front of the train and they grabbed the last two empty seats, his across from hers. As she glanced around the compartment at the staring prefects of various houses, she caught Malfoy's glare and returned it defiantly until Pansy rudely suggested, "Well aren't you going to introduce him to us, you pathetic little muggle-born?"

Ron, who was looking hurt and confused, stayed silent; they all did. All of them looking questioningly and waiting for her response. She cleared her throat, "Everyone, this is Anthony Ortellado. He's new this year and he apparently needs help finding things around…I was thinking we could all tell him about Hogwarts and I have a few questions of my own," she said trying to tell Ron not to act jealous.

"Well…" Anthony started awkwardly, "I'm from the United States, as I'm sure you good old sports can tell," Some people tittered, "but otherwise I'm seventeen. Born and raised in Concord, California. That's in the bay area near San Francisco if you don't know..." They all nodded so he went on, "I'm half Paraguayan, half French though. I mean American through and through but that's my nationality for you. I'm here because my parents, dentists, received a job opportunity in London. They're working with the Grangers actually." Hermione gasped and he stopped talking; everyone turned to stare.

"They're my parents!" she exclaimed. "I'm muggle-born. The Grangers are my parents." She repeated. "They also had that job interview in London, happened about a week ago. Yes." She finished quietly looking him in the eyes and smiling. "Well its great meeting you." She said again. Malfoy scowled; Ron cracked his knuckles.

"Oh" he breathed, "they did _say_ you were bushy-haired…" the Slytherins jeered and Malfoy finally looked satisfied. He walked across the compartment and shook hands with Anthony, inviting him to come to the seventh year's Slytherin compartment for the rest of the ride. Anthony nodded, winking at Hermione as he left. She frowned at him, unsure of his intentions. Ron asked her to go sit next to him now Malfoy had left, but she declined the offer, rushing towards Harry's compartment to get the Invisibility cloak. _What was Ortellado's problem anyway_?


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling. I merely try to make the impossible coupling of Hermione and Draco work out.**

After having rushed to fetch Harry's cloak, begging him not to ask questions yet, she was rushing from compartment to compartment, trying to locate Malfoy and his new buddy, _Ortellado._ How could she have believed him to be nice so easily? Why had she acted like such a complete _fool_ and _child _in front of Malfoy and the likes of _him?_ _Well,_ she thought bitterly_. I can say I've endured worse. _She kept walking until she spotted them, sprawled over a few seats, Pansy and her friends sitting in their laps. Wrinkling her nose, she opened the compartment door and screamed, distracting them from the whores within. Anthony looked up but, seeing nothing, resumed caressing a blonde girl's hips. _Yuck,_ she thought dismally. _Boys, I swear!_

The emboldened girl entered the compartment and slammed it shut, shattering the glass. Pansy squealed her high-pitched cry, deafening Hermione slightly for a few seconds. _I suppose hot bodies come with a price_, she thought nastily, wishing the worst for the Slytherin girl.

"Is that a custom in the trains too?" Ortellado asked lazily saying _Reparo_, while nibbling at the girl's ear. She moaned and he smirked. "Viola darling, are you telling me you aren't accustomed to that kind of behavior?" Hermione nearly gagged. Viola seductively raised an eyebrow, perhaps suggesting public places were not a common make-out area. Either way, Hermione found herself praying Anthony would be placed in Slytherin, far away from her.

It was minutes before Hermione could move at all, being nudged between Blaise Zabini and his whore Mathilda. And _she _was a Ravenclaw; _what has the school turned into_? She kept watching until the plump sweet-cart lady passed by their compartment, her stomach grumbled loudly giving her away. To everyone's surprise, Malfoy lunged forward and tore the cloak off by her head immediately, clearly experienced in the cloak-bearers' discovering. She gasped and sat helpless in the middle of a compartment-full of Slytherins. Especially this bunch; on top of Anthony Ortellado being there…Malfoy grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her closer to him, his face ablaze with fury.

"What are you doing here?" he asked her dangerously, daring her to lie. She gasped, scared for her life. Ortellado just sat there and looked at her through narrowed eyes; Zabini smirked evilly, looking her up and down.

"I-I'm. Well I was…I." annoyed at her own stupidity, she decided to be brave. "Fuck off, Malfoy. I'm not the one converting the first newcomer to evil." He slapped her. _Again, may I add?_

Anthony stood and walked over to her, "Granger, stop being so stupid. I'm stronger than your pathetic brain may think; devilishly handsome too…" he looked her up and down like Zabini had, his face forming a smirk. "You can stay for fun too, if you'd like…"

She tore herself from the small group that was forming around her, but not quickly enough for Blaise, who pushed her into the group of girls sitting around Malfoy. She gulped. _How do you get out of this one?_

Malfoy grabbed her by the neck and shoved her out of their compartment._ Oh, that's how. _She thought massaging her neck, thankful, for once in her life, that Malfoy was alive. She ran back to her compartment, and handed Harry the cloak.

He asked her what had happened for the third time that day. "I just wanted to know what they were all doing in there with the new guy," she said, finally explaining when she sat down. "I snuck in, but they found me out before anything good had been said. I don't know what I'd been expecting really…" she pondered over everything that was said. _Just that the Slytherins were a bunch of whores._ "Anyway Malfoy threw me out almost as soon as he saw me. I suppose he was being nice and getting me out of there. I'll have to thank Ginny." She added, speaking more to herself than anyone at the moment. After a few more minutes of discussion and chastising her for having been so stupid as to think the Slytherins had _anything_ to talk about now that Voldemort was gone, Hermione leaned her head against Ron's shoulder and fell asleep.

--

When she awoke two hours later, the train had stopped. Ron was lightly shaking her awake. "Wake up, love. It's time to go, we're back." She smiled sleepily and yawned, forgetting entirely about the whole "Slytherin compartment dilemma."

And then she realized: they didn't know who the Head Girl and Boy were. That was strange; _didn't they usually receive the badges by mail before the start of term?_ She shook it off and took Ron's waiting hand; she was happy they were together, looked forward to a new year at Hogwarts as boyfriend and girlfriend. She giggled to herself, surprising Harry and Ron, whose eyebrows skyrocketed. Shaking her head, she squeezed Ron's hand, grabbed Harry by the arm and led them out of their compartment.

They met up with Ginny and Luna in a carriage; both were chatting about the new classes they were to be taking and theorizing over how many free periods they were finally going to receive. "Loads." Ron informed them, "remember last year Harry? We had plenty of time to relax-" but Hermione interrupted.

"Don't think it's going to be all fun and games! Those free periods will be spent studying and doing homework soon enough-"

"Yea but not for a while, so enjoy the first few weeks while you can!" Ron told them, ignoring Hermione. She scowled and they all laughed. Hermione, Hermione.

"Anyway, I thought you were the one saying you wanted to have loads of fun this year…" Harry started pointedly. "Don't tell me you're scratching that one."

She momentarily thought of Ron, Anthony and Malfoy. _Malfoy._ _He better not become Head Boy…_She was pretty sure she was to become Head Girl; it was to be expected after all; she was the only to give a _damn_ about anything in plenty of their classes. Not to mention the amount of classes she was taking in the first place.

"I've been thinking I want to get into an archeological field of work. My parents and I visited Bill and his work in Egypt over the summer and I was completely fascinated." Hermione said, "That might shrink the number of classes I'm taking."

The whole carriage laughed and cheered. Free periods for all!

The carriage came to a stop in front of the gates and they all got out, Hermione between Harry and Ron, her arms linking them. It wasn't until she realized yet again that this was her final time in this position that she took off towards the castle, sprinting and yelling, trying to treasure these moments forever. It wasn't until half the seventh years had joined her that Professor McGonagall stuck her head out the front door, pursing her lips at first, but softening her expression at the tears in most of the students' eyes.

The old woman stepped aside and let them all in, telling them to hush up only when Peeves entered the Entrance Hall, curious at all the commotion.

"Please!" she said over the yelling and various conversations. "I wouldn't want to dock points off Houses already." She ended sternly, looking at Hermione who remembered the Head Girl badge and quieted immediately, turning to face her fellow classmates and drawing a line across her neck, motioning to cut the noise.

McGonagall seemed surprised at first by the girl's methods but smiled, satisfied, when the room had gone considerably quiet. She nodded at Hermione and moved out of the way to let them all pass into the Great Hall for a final start-of-term feast.

On her way to Gryffindor table, she saw Malfoy and Ortellado deep in conversation. _Probably plotting something already_, she thought, uninterested. All she wanted to know was who the Head Boy and Girl were going to be. Reading her mind, Ginny wondered aloud, "Hermione, who do you think the Head Boy is going to be? I mean, I think we're all pretty sure you're the new Head Girl though you aren't wearing a badge yet…" All the Gryffindors nodded vigorously, taking seats as close to Hermione as possible, while being nudged by Ron and Harry who sat on either sat of her.

She glanced once more at the Slytherin table and realized that Anthony had already taken a seat though as far as she knew, he hadn't been sorted. _Maybe it's temporary_, she thought. _Maybe he was sorted before term started…?_

As all the students filed into the room and the first years filed in, Flitwick placed a stool in front of the school, teachers and students all being able to see it. The Sorting Hat twitched when Flitwick called the first name on the list to be sorted. McGonagall sat in the Headmaster's chair, Professor Slughorn and Sprout on either side of her. Hagrid waved at the Golden Trio when Hermione caught his eye. She smiled and winked, focusing her attention on the tiny first year India Berlin, who had been blinded by the hat. The hat called "HUFFLEPUFF!" and the girl ran to her new House, smiling brightly.

Hermione smiled at the eagerness of the little girl to start at Hogwarts, remembering the time she had been sorted into Gryffindor…Her focus on the present dissolving as the memory took over, her young determination and fierce pride had won her over to Gryffindor though the hat had actually wanted to place her in Ravenclaw.

She jerked out of her reverie when the entire Great Hall's silence was broken; Anthony Ortellado was the final student to be sorted as he walked up to Professor Flitwick, placed the Sorting Hat on his head, took a seat on the stool and waited.

It was a few minutes before anyone moved, the Hat taking longer time than anyone could ever remember; longer even than Harry Potter's sorting. Finally though, the tear which was the Hat's mouth opened and announced "SLYTHERIN!"

Hermione's fears were confirmed; this was not a friend. Though she had previously wished for him to be far from her, she was sad that the house had obtained one more partisan of evil. _O. K. maybe that's a little much._

He winked at her. _O. K. maybe it isn't._

When everyone had settled down, McGonagall stood and announced the usual terms with which students at Hogwarts had to comply if they were to remain at the school, reminding them that Filch's office was open to any student who wished to see the list of banned objects.

Hermione had started to get impatient at the lack of knowledge she was dying to find out when the new Headmistress finally started on the Head Girl and Boy question.

"The Head Boy and Girl this year, as always, are the best students of each sex in their year. They have earned this through six years of proving themselves and I'm pleased to announce that Hermione Granger-" there were loud cheers from the Gryffindors and many Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs as they tried to pat her on the back, "and Draco Malfoy-" boos issued from all House tables but the Slytherin one, which proudly smirked and gave him the thumbs-up. "Will assume the posts this year. The reason this news is so delayed is because the two dormitories, formally separated, have been combined so as to make space for our new seventh-year student. The Head Boy and Girl will share a common room and bathroom." Hermione gasped in horror; Malfoy looked disgusted. "There is no arguing this point; further instructions will be given at the end of the feast. Enjoy!" she added hastily as an outburst was soon to break out. The food magically appeared on hundreds of platters and soon the only noise issuing from the Great Hall was the clinking of forks and knives on plates.


End file.
